Ditching attachment for grader blades



P. TERRY 2,555,508

DITCHING ATTACHMENT FOR GRADER BLADES Flied Sept 50 1948 Preston Terry INVENTOR.

BY I Attorney June 12, 1951 Patented June 12, 1951 OFFICE DITCHING ATTACHMENT FOR GRADER BLADES Preston Terry, Overland, Mb. I

Application September 30, 1948, Serial No. 51,926

The present invention relates to a novel and improved attachment which is applicable to an end portion of a road grading machine grader blade, said attachment being expressly constructed and made so that, in use, it gouges and conditions the adjacent marginal edge of the road to effectively produce a properly shouldered drainage ditch or gutter.

More specifically related, I have evolved and produced a structurally distinct ditcher which takes the form of an attachment, the same being applicable to the right hand end of the stated grader blade so that it quickly and neatly grades a wanted shoulder of desired curvature resulting in a properly sloped and shaped drainage gutter or ditch.

It is a matter of common knowledge that the diagonally disposed grader blade now commonly in use is is horizontally elongated and transversely cupped and is provided on the lower surface contacting edge with a renewable facing and grading strip. The opposite transverse ends of said blade are straight across and are not adaptable to performing the desired edging and curvate gouging results wanted. Such being the situation, I have discovered the need for practical and efficient gutter constructingmeans and I carry my ideas into effect through the instrumentality of the stated attachment.

In reducing to practice thepreferred embodiment of the invention I provide an attachment which is characterized by a concavo-convex freely rotatable disk and adjustable adapter and mounting means whereby said disk may be properly and efiectively attached to the aforementioned grader blade.

Other objects and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following description and the accompanying illustrative drawings.

In the drawings, wherein like numerals are employed to designate like structural elements and parts throughout the views:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a portion of the grader machine, the grader blade and the improved ditch forming attachment on the blade and illustrating the manner in which said attachment functions.

Figure 2 is a front or face elevation of the attachment per se showing, in dotted lines, the old parts.

Figure 3 is a vertical section on the plane of the line 3--3 of Figure 2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary horizontal section on the plane of the line 4-4 of Figure 3, looking in the direction of the arrows.

2 Claims. (01. 3*z 14a) Referring now to the drawings by reference letters, the machine, a portion of the frame of which is illustrated, is denoted by the reference character A in Figure 1. The grader blade is denoted at B and the renewable facing and scraping shoe is denoted by the reference character C. The shoe 0 scrapes the customary traction surface D of the roadway and the attachment which I have devised and consider novel serves to gouge, shape and form the gutter or ditch E, marginal should-er F and properly sloped and shaped junctural shoulder G between areas I) and E.

All of the old parts, some of which are shown in phantom or dotted lines in Figures 2 and 3, are denoted by reference letters. The parts or elements which go to make up the stated attachment are denoted by reference numerals and attending lead lines- With respect to the attachment the numeral 5 denotes a transversely curved adapter plate which conforms in shape to the grader blade B, said adapter plate being superimposed against the concaved surface of the blade and bolted or otherwise secured removably thereto as at 6. I prefer that the adapter plate be readily attachable so that it may be optionally used where a drainage gutter is considered essential. An equally essential part of the attachment is the excavating, gouging and shaping disk 7. This is of appropriate diameter and stabilityand is concavo-conve'x to provide the desired cupping and scooping facilities. In order to properly and adjustably mount the disk in useful position in relation to the grader blade I provide a satisfactory mount. The latter comprises a fiat plate 8 which as best shown in Figures 3 and 4 is centrally slotted to accommodate the headed end 9 of a supporting and adjusting bolt Ii]. The screw-threaded nut equipped end of the bolt is secured in the hub I I of the disk. I provide spacing and angling washers and these are interposed between the convex side of the disk and flat surface of the plate. One washer, the washer [2, has the side facing the disk properly recessed to conform to the contour of the disk. The washer l3 has its left hand surface flat to provide the desired hearing against the correspondingly fiat plate 8 as shown in Figure 3. The coacting surfaces of the respective washers are inclined for angular adjusting and regulating results. In practice, end or filler plates 14 and I5 (see Figure 4) are mounted in place to close in the space between the vertical edges of the plate 8 and the adapter plate 5. It follows that the mount is in the form of a hollow box. Referring to the slot means I provide a vertical or main slot l6 as shown in full lines in Figure 3 and in dotted lines in Figure 2 and this communicates with a lateral or horizontal branch slot 1! (see Figure 2) which latter slot opens into a short vertical or auxiliary slot whose upper and lower ends form selectively usable keeper pockets l8 and I9 for the headed end of the bolt. It follows that the washer, bolt and disk assembly may be bodily adjusted vertically in the slot [6. Secondly, the bolt may be shifted laterally through the auxiliary branch slot I! and the headed end fastened in either of the upper or lower pockets l8 and [9. This provides not only for sideway adjustment but also vertical adjustment. Or, to put it otherwise, we have main and auxiliary slot means I6, [Band l9 and connecting branch slot ll affording the facilities to accommodate the bolt and to allow for proper shifting and adjustment of same.

I also: provide an auxiliary scraper shoe'which lSzll'l: the form of a' rectangular. cleat or strip 20 as shown in Figure 2. The inner end of the shoe is pivotally bolted in place as at 2i and said end portion has a slot 22' to accommodate a clamping bolt 23 whereby to permit said shoeito. be properly angled. The purpose of the auxiliary shoe is' to scrape the coacting surface portion of theggu-tter and to give the desired slope, that is: to form the intervening shoulder or region G between the main road surface D and marginal gutter shoulder F.

The grader blade is set at an angle, whengradingrstarts', and is used. to grade the shoulder of the road while'the cutting shoe grades the inside line of the drainage ditch and the cupped disk roundssout the ditch itself and defines a curved surfaced shoulder on the outer margin of the ditch. Thus, the combined action of the regular grader bladeplus the ditching attachment defines the regular road traction surface D, the curvate gutter E, the curved. surfaced gutter or drainage ditch shoulder F' and the merging. secondary shoulder G with proper inclination, between the gutter and surface. D. The invention is in actual and. practical. use and is destined to prove outrto be'highly successful in the field of endeavor under advisement.

Changes in shape, size, materials and rearrangement of details and parts may be resorted to in actual practice, so long as they do not depart from. the spirit of the. invention or the scope of the appended claims, as iswell understood.

Having described; the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. An attachment for a conventional horizontally elongated grader blade comprising an adapter plate: adapted to be superimposed against the. leading surface of said grader blade, said adapter'plate conforming in shape to the concaved shape of said blade, bolts carried by one end of said adapter plate and permitting same to be bolted to the blade with its outer end flush with the corresponding outer end of the blade, a flat companion plate vertically spanning the concaved side of said adapter plate and secured at opposite ends to longitudinal edge portions of said adapter plate, said flat. plate being provided with a pair of vertically disposed slots connected in communicative relationship by way of a horizontal slot, a bolt having a headed end portion selectively and detachably associable with said slot, a concavo-convex disc removably mounted on the shank of said bolt, and adjusting and assembling washers on the shank of the bolt and interposed between the convex side of the disc and said fiat plate.

2. In a structural assemblage of the class shown and described, in combination, a grading machine embodyinga conventional type. grader blade, an adapter plate superimposed against and detachably bolted-on the recessed side'of said grader blade, said adapter-plate having: its outer end terminating flush with the corresponding outer end of saidblade, a fiat mounting plate, the latter being vertically disposed, spanning the recessed side of said adapter plate; being connected at opposite transverse endsto the longitudinal edge portions of the adapter plate and having its outward edge flush" with the corresponding end or said adapter plate, said mounting plate having slotmeans, a bolt adj'ustably and detachably securedto said mounting plate by Wayof said slot means, a concave-convex disc mounted on and carried by said bolt, adjustment andspacing washers surrounding the bolt and interposed between the convex side of the disc and said flat mounting plate, and a substantially rectangular relatively narrow'ditch scraping and sloping shoe having. one endhingedly and detachably connected to. the lower edge portion of said grader bl'ade and having its opposite end: free and situated ad iacent the lower edge portion-of the disc between the disc and-said mounting: plate.

PRESTON TERRY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file" of. this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 179,122 Martin,Jr. June127, 1876' 879 ;970- Kruse Feb. 25, 1908 994,411 Kovar June 6; 1 911 1,46'63464 Beatty Aug. 28,. 1923 '1 ,49l,4'6O 'Bos'shard Apr.. 22, 1924 1,753,150: Hinds et' al. Apr. 1, 1930 

